Brian Contreras
Growing up in Modesto, a town similar in size and demographics to his current home of Salinas, Brian Contreras experienced firsthand the effects of gang violence. After spending a short time in prison, Contreras decided to turn his life around.

Relocating to Salinas, he noticed the escalating gang violence in his new town. Frustrated with what he thought were inadequate prevention efforts from local agencies and organizations, Contreras founded his own program, 2nd Chance Youth & Family Services, to help youth who were already tampering with the juvenile system in 1989.

In the beginning, 2nd Chance was primarily an outreach program to gang members. Contreras and his staff worked to redirect youth, encouraging them to take alternative paths. In 1993, Contreras decided to bring the program to North Salinas High School, which had experienced some of the worst fights in area schools, including one incident in which a teacher was shot. Contreras and his staff worked throughout the year to build relationships with the rival gangs in the school. By the end of the school year, they were able to bring 175 students to a conflict mediation meeting to resolve underlying tensions among the group. By its third year in North Salinas High, 2nd Chance brought a 95 percent reduction in weapons incidents, 65 percent reduction in gang fights, and the number of expulsions dropped from 22 to three.

2nd Chance now serves seven schools in Salinas and North Monterey County. Over the past decade, 2nd Chance Youth & Family Services has given second chances to more than 3000 youth, who range from ages 11 to 18.

Joan Cuadra
Raised by a pacifist family, Joan Cuadra has always valued peace. Now she helps bring peace to immigrant farmworking communities throughout the Central Valley by developing culturally sensitive and low-literacy materials and services on the effects of domestic violence and substance abuse on families.

At Proteus, Inc., Cuadra was responsible for coordinating community education programs on pesticide safety and domestic violence among immigrant farmworkers. Proteus’ Americorps members conducted educational workshops right in the fields and community gathering places of immigrant farmworkers. However, Cuadra and her fellow trainers quickly discovered that there was a lack of appropriate materials for the population they were targeting, largely mono-lingual Spanish-speakers who possessed low reading skills in their native language.

In response to the scarcity of linguistically and culturally appropriate training materials, Cuadra and her colleagues developed their own. Most recently, Cuadra participated in the design of a low-literacy domestic violence curriculum, which incorporates the use of visual aids and interactive exercises for audience participation. Because of the effectiveness of their curriculum, Cuadra and her colleagues have been asked to conduct trainings throughout the state.

Outside of Proteus, Inc., Cuadra extends her peace efforts through participation with the Tulare County Hispanic Commission on Alcohol and Drug Abuse. Her combined efforts at both organizations have led her to see the connections between domestic violence and substance abuse and their detrimental effects on farmworking families.

Constance Rice
As a litigator who believes that peace is central to any form of civic democracy, Constance Rice has worked to advance peace efforts in underserved Los Angeles communities. Through The Advancement Project, a public policy and legal action group she co-founded, Rice spearheads coalitions that tackle community problems such as crowded and failing schools, broken bus systems, unwarranted police violence, and other barriers to becoming healthier communities.

Her efforts in violence prevention started in 1992, when gang leaders throughout Los Angeles were launching a remarkable set of ceasefire agreements and cross-colors truces in communities ravaged by relentless gun fire and other violence fueled by crack-cocaine wars. Rice supported efforts in Watts by raising funds for truce programs and raising allies from Hollywood, the world of lawyers, and the ranks of police. She facilitated dialogue between truce leaders and wary cops, an effort that defused several flashpoints and reduced friction that threatened truce enforcement. These efforts have continued as some of the cross-colors truces survive and as the Los Angeles Sheriffs’ Department works to reduce prison violence with other urban peace leaders.

In honor of the truce movement, Rice and The Advancement Project are co-launching the first Los Angeles Urban Peace Prize in April 2002 with actor Harry Belafonte, Cardinal Roger M. Mahony and Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca. Like the California Peace Prize, the award will be presented to champions of urban peace dedicated to ending violence, reclaiming personal responsibility and restoring community.